Light systems including field replaceable assembly, and methods of assembling and operating the same

ABSTRACT

A light system is provided. The light system includes: (a) a lamp head assembly, the lamp head assembly including (i) driver circuits, and (ii) a cooling system; and (b) a replaceable assembly connected to the lamp head assembly, the replaceable assembly including (i) a plurality of light producing elements, (ii) a cooling structure for receiving a cooling fluid from the cooling system, the plurality of light producing elements being supported by the cooling structure, and (iii) a reflector for receiving light from the plurality of light producing elements. The replaceable assembly is separable, as a single assembly, from the lamp head assembly.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/451,178, filed Jan. 27, 2017, the contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The invention relates to light systems, and more particularly, to lightsystems including a field replaceable assembly, and methods ofassembling and operating the same.

BACKGROUND

Certain light systems (e.g., including lamp head assemblies) include aplurality of light producing elements (e.g., ultraviolet radiation LEDs,also known as UV LEDs, etc.). Often, these light producing elements arearranged in a plurality of arrays, each of the arrays including aplurality of the light producing elements. Such light systems are usedin connection with many applications such as, for example, UV curingapplications (e.g., UV curing of inks, bonding agents such as adhesives,coatings, etc.), horticultural applications, and medical applications.

Such conventional light systems face certain challenges. For example,most LED based light systems are not designed with field replaceablecomponents. Operators are often not trained in the troubleshooting,maintenance, and repair of such complicated light systems. Thus, ifthere is a failure of a subsystem (e.g., a failure in the coolingsystem, such as a water based cooling system, or a failure of asignificant number of LEDs), the entire light system may need to bereturned for service. Worse, the entire light system may be treated as aconsumable, which is costly to the user.

Thus, it would be desirable to provide improved lamp head assemblies,and methods of assembling and operating the lamp head assemblies.

SUMMARY

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a light system isprovided. The light system includes: (a) a lamp head assembly, the lamphead assembly including (i) driver circuits, and (ii) a cooling system;and (b) a replaceable assembly connected to the lamp head assembly, thereplaceable assembly including (i) a plurality of light producingelements, (ii) a cooling structure for receiving a cooling fluid fromthe cooling system, the plurality of light producing elements beingsupported by the cooling structure, and (iii) a reflector for receivinglight from the plurality of light producing elements. The replaceableassembly is separable, as a single assembly, from the lamp headassembly.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method ofassembling a light system is provided. The method includes the steps of:(a) providing a lamp head assembly, the lamp head assembly including (i)driver circuits, and (ii) a cooling system; and (b) connecting areplaceable assembly to the lamp head assembly, the replaceable assemblyincluding (i) a plurality of light producing elements, (ii) a coolingstructure for receiving a cooling fluid from the cooling system, theplurality of light producing elements being supported by the coolingstructure, and (iii) a reflector for receiving light from the pluralityof light producing elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is best understood from the following detailed descriptionwhen read in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is emphasizedthat, according to common practice, the various features of the drawingsare not to scale. On the contrary, the dimensions of the variousfeatures are arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. Included inthe drawings are the following figures:

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a light system including a lamp headassembly and a replaceable assembly in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the light assembly of FIG. 1A with thereplaceable assembly shown in an exploded configuration in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of elements of the replaceable assemblyof FIGS. 1A-1B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used herein, the terms “processor” and “microprocessor” are usedinterchangeably, and shall be broadly construed to refer to any deviceincluding a processing unit (e.g., a central processing unit) or otherhardware that executes computer program instructions. Examples of“processors” and “microprocessors” include microcontrollers, digitalsignal processors (DSPs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs),computers, etc. As is understood by those skilled in the art,“processors” and “microprocessors” may include elements such as randomaccess memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and peripherals.

As used herein, the term “captive” with respect to fasteners refers to abroad group of fasteners that are adapted/configured to be held (e.g.,permanently fixed) in connection with an assembly (e.g., the replaceableassembly described herein, the lamp head assembly described herein,etc.). Such fasteners may provide a secure joining between the assemblyto which it is held, and another component, without a risk of loss ordamage to the fastener that may occur if it were not held captive to theassembly.

As used herein, the term “turnlock” with respect to fasteners refers toa broad group of fasteners that are used to easily secure a firstcomponent/assembly to a second component/assembly. Examples of suchfasteners includes quarter-turn lock fasteners. Turnlock fasteners mayalso be referred to as quick-action, quick-connect, or quick disconnectfasteners. Turnlock fasteners may also be captive fasteners. Turnlockfasteners may also be configured to be operated without tools.

A technical objective of the invention is to design and build fieldreplaceable assemblies for light systems, where such assemblies mayincludes arrays of light producing elements (e.g., LED light producingelements). Such designs may include various features such as: quickrelease (e.g., quarter turn) fasteners connecting a replaceable assemblyto a lamp head assembly; limited accessibility by an operator to lightproducing elements (e.g., LEDs) and bond wires of the replaceableassembly; and capability to quickly disconnect a cooling fluid supply(e.g., chilled water, air cooling) from the replaceable assembly. Aswill be appreciated by those skilled in the art, passive cooling may beutilized, instead of (or in addition to) active cooling.

Exemplary elements included in a replaceable assembly according to theinvention include: a reflector(s); a cooling structure for supportinglight producing elements (e.g., a micro-channel cooler); a plurality oflight producing elements (e.g., arrays of LEDs); wire bonds included incircuits providing energy to the light producing elements. A gasket(s)is desirably provided between the replaceable assembly and a lamp headassembly. Such exemplary elements (perhaps without the gasket) may bepre-assembled together to form the replaceable assembly, with the designlimiting access to certain components (e.g., the light producingelements, the wire bonds, etc.) of the replaceable assembly. Thereplaceable assembly may be relatively durable, and be easily stored andshipped.

The design of the replaceable assembly involves various fasteningrelationships (e.g., the fastening between the cooling structure and thereflector, the fastening between the driver circuits and the coolingstructure (supporting the light producing elements)).

Through the use of the inventive replaceable assembly, a fieldreplaceable kit provides a reasonable choice for a customer/operator;that is, a replacement assembly is provided to save time, money, andpossible process down time. The replacement takes a very short time, andwith proper training may be performed by the customer.

The field replaceable assembly designs described herein reflect asignificant improvement for many industrial customers. For many years,customers have desired to perform their own maintenance on theirapplication specific equipment (e.g., an ultraviolet LED based curingsystem), at least in part because of the demand to keep such equipmentrunning. By providing the field replaceable assemblies described herein,customers are desirably able to perform certain maintenance functions,and to get their equipment back up and running quickly after a faultand/or failure.

Referring now to FIG. 1A, a light system 100 is shown. Light system 100includes a lamp head assembly 102 and a replaceable assembly 104. InFIG. 1A, lamp head assembly 102 and replaceable assembly 104 are shownseparated from one another. During operation of light system 100,assemblies 102, 104 are connected with gasket 106 provided therebetweenas a sealant for a cooling fluid (e.g., chilled water provided by acooling system). In operation, light system 100 may be used, forexample, in connection with an application such as a UV curingapplication, or some other application. Additional elements of a curingsystem are omitted from the drawings for simplicity. For example, it isunderstood that elements of light system 100 (e.g., driver circuits 102a 1, sometimes referred to as drive circuits, or drivers) may becontrolled using a microprocessor (not shown in the drawings). Suchdriver circuits 102 a 1 provide energy to light producing elements 104 h1 (see FIG. 1B, where the light producing elements 104 h 1 which may bearranged in a plurality of arrays) in replaceable assembly 104.Electrical energy is provided to the driver circuits 102 a 1 by a powersource/supply (not shown). Additional details related to such drivercircuits and other elements described herein may be found in U.S. Pat.No. 9,648,705, the content of which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

Lamp head assembly 102 includes a circuit board 102 a (for supportingdriver circuits 102 a 1 for the light producing elements 104 h 1 ofreplaceable assembly 104). A cooling system of lamp head assembly 102includes cooling fluid inlet and outlet connections 108 for providingcooling fluid from a cooling fluid source (e.g., a chilled water supply,not shown) to replaceable assembly 104. Cooling fluid extends fromconnections 108 to connection surface 102 c of lamp head assembly 102.The cooling fluid exits (and re-enters) lamp head assembly 102 throughinlet (and exit) ports 102 b defined by connection surface 102 c. Thecooling fluid then enters a cooling structure 104 h (described below inconnection with FIG. 1B) of replaceable assembly 104, where gasket 106provides a sealing function for the cooling fluid between lamp headassembly 102 and replaceable assembly 104.

Still referring to FIG. 1A, replaceable assembly 104 includes flangedportions 104 a at a first end adjacent lamp head assembly 102, and anexit surface 104 b (for light exiting light assembly 100, for example,to be used in a curing application) at a second end opposite the firstend. Flanged portions 104 a define a space for housing certain elementsof replaceable assembly 104 within a footprint of replaceable assembly104. Such elements may include, for example, light producing elements104 h 1 (shown in FIG. 1B), bonding wires 104 h 4 on cooling structure104 h (shown in FIG. 1B in a simplified form), and connectors 104 i 1(shown in FIG. 2) for connecting to electrical cables for carryingelectrical signals from driver circuits 102 a 1 of lamp head assembly102. Alignment structures 104 h 5 (e.g., pins) provided on coolingstructure 104 h are configured to be received by apertures (not shown)defined by wall portions 104 e (see FIG. 1B), for providing alignmentbetween cooling structure 104 h and wall portions 104 e (whileprotecting sensitive components such as bonding wires 104 h 4).Fasteners 104 c extend through apertures 104 d. When light assembly 100is fully assembled (with lamp head assembly 102 and replaceable assembly104 connected to one another), fasteners 104 are engaged with apertures102 c of lamp head assembly 102.

Fasteners 104 c may be captive fasteners, adapted/configured to be heldin connection with replaceable assembly 104. Further, fasteners 104 cmay be turnlock fasteners, and may be easily operated (e.g., withouttools) to connect replaceable assembly 104 to lamp head assembly 102, orto disconnect the same. For example, if a fault/failure is detected by acustomer/operator of light system 100, and if the customer/operatorbelieves the fault/failure is related to a portion of replaceableassembly 104, the customer/operator may separate replaceable assembly104 from lamp head assembly 102 through the operation of fasteners 104c. After the separation, a different (e.g., new) replaceable assembly104 may be connected to the existing lamp head assembly 102 usingfasteners 104 c captive with the different (new) replaceable assembly104.

Although fasteners 104 c (e.g., captive fasteners, turnlock fasteners,etc.) are illustrated as being captive with respect to replaceableassembly 104—and configured to be engaged in apertures 102 c of lamphead assembly 102—the invention is not limited thereto. For example,similar fasteners may be captive with respect to lamp head assembly 104,and configured to be engaged in apertures of replaceable assembly 104.

Referring now to FIG. 1B, replaceable assembly 104 is shown in anexploded configuration. Replaceable assembly 104 includes a plurality ofwall portions 104 e including reflective internal surfaces to create areflector 104 i when assembled as shown in FIG. 1A. Examples ofreflectors that may be adapted for use in connection with thereplaceable assemblies of the invention are shown in U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2015/0378072, the content of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Replaceable assembly 104 also includes window retainer 104 f thatretains window 104 g in the assembled configuration of FIG. 1A.Replaceable assembly 104 also includes cooling structure 104 h. Coolingstructure 104 h defines a plurality of cooling channels therein forreceiving the cooling fluid from the cooling system of lamp headassembly 102. A plurality of light producing elements 104 h 1 (e.g., LEDelements arranged in arrays) are provided on cooling structure 104 h.Example of cooling structures (e.g., multi-channel coolers) that may beadapted for use in connection with the invention are shown in U.S. Pat.No. 8,809,820, the content of which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

Light from the light producing elements 104 h 1 reflects in thereflector defined by wall portions 104 e, and exits replaceable assembly104 through window 104 g. Upon exiting replaceable assembly 104, thereflected light is provided for curing or other use.

FIG. 2 illustrates an interface board 104 i positioned on an uppersurface 104 h 2 of cooling structure 104 h. A lower surface 104 h 3 ofcooling structure 104 h is the side positioned adjacent lamp headassembly 102 when replaceable assembly 104 is connected to lamp headassembly 102 using fasteners 104 c. Upper surface 104 h 2 is the surfaceof cooling structure visible in FIG. 1B (although interface board 104 iis omitted from FIG. 1B). A plurality of connectors 104 i 1 are providedon interface board 104 i. Electrical cables (not shown) provideelectrical connections between the driver circuits 102 a 1 included inlamp head assembly 102 and corresponding electrical connectors 104 i 1.Thus, when it is desired to separate replaceable assembly 104 from lamphead assembly 102 (e.g., using fasteners 104 c), after the separation,the electrical cables may be easily separated from connectors 104 i 1(e.g., without tools).

Certain portions of replaceable assembly 104 tend to be more subject topotential damage if directly handled/contacted by customers/operators.Such portions include, for example, the light producing elements 104 h1, bonding wires 104 h 4 on cooling structure 104 h providing electricalconnectivity to the plurality of light producing elements 104 h 1,connectors 104 i 1, among others. According to certain embodiments ofthe invention, these portions are not exposed to direct contact by thecustomer/operator. That is, as shown in FIG. 1A, certain areas ofcooling structure 104 h are within the “footprint” of replaceableassembly 104. Thus, when replaceable assembly 104 is removed from thelamp head assembly 102 (e.g., using fasteners 104 c), these portions(e.g., light producing elements 104 h 1, bonding wires 104 h 4, etc.)are not handled by the customer/operator. The entire “faulty”replaceable assembly 104 may then be sent to the appropriate party(e.g., a manufacturer, a lab, a maintenance facility, etc.) forinspection, testing and/or repair—while another replacement assembly 104may be connected to the existing lamp head assembly 102 by thecustomer/operator.

It is understood that the use of certain terms herein in the singularmay refer to the plural, and vice versa. For example, the term “drivercircuit” may refer to a plurality of driver circuits.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein withreference to specific embodiments, the invention is not intended to belimited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be madein the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claimsand without departing from the invention.

What is claimed:
 1. A light system comprising: (a) a lamp head assembly,the lamp head assembly including (i) driver circuits, and (ii) a coolingsystem; and (b) a replaceable assembly connected to the lamp headassembly, the replaceable assembly including (i) a plurality of lightproducing elements, (ii) a cooling structure for receiving a coolingfluid from the cooling system, the plurality of light producing elementsbeing supported by the cooling structure, and (iii) a reflector forreceiving light from the plurality of light producing elements, whereinthe replaceable assembly is separable, as a single assembly, from thelamp head assembly.
 2. The light system of claim 1 wherein the pluralityof light producing elements include at least one of ultraviolet LEDs orinfrared light producing elements.
 3. The light system of claim 1wherein the plurality of light producing elements are arranged in aplurality of arrays of light producing elements in the replaceableassembly.
 4. The light system of claim 3 wherein each of the drivercircuits is configured to provide energy to at least a portion of theplurality of arrays of light producing elements.
 5. The light system ofclaim 1 wherein the replaceable assembly is separable from the lamp headassembly using a plurality of fasteners disposed between the replaceableassembly and the lamp head assembly.
 6. The light system of claim 5wherein the plurality of fasteners are quick disconnect fasteners. 7.The light system of claim 5 wherein the plurality of fasteners arecaptive fasteners included as part of the replaceable assembly.
 8. Thelight system of claim 5 wherein the plurality of fasteners are captivefasteners included as part of the lamp head assembly.
 9. The lightsystem of claim 5 wherein the plurality of fasteners are turn lockfasteners.
 10. The light system of claim 1 wherein the replaceableassembly includes a plurality of electrical connectors configured forconnection to electrical cables extending from the driver circuits tothe replaceable assembly.
 11. The light system of claim 10 wherein theelectrical cables may be connected and disconnected from the connectorsby an operator of the light assembly without the use of tools.
 12. Thelight system of claim 1 wherein the cooling structure includes aplurality of wire bonds providing electrical connectivity to theplurality of light producing elements.
 13. The light system of claim 12wherein the plurality of wire bonds are contained within a footprint ofthe replaceable assembly.
 14. The light system of claim 1 wherein theplurality of light producing elements are contained within a footprintof the replaceable assembly.
 15. A method of assembling a light system,the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a lamp head assembly,the lamp head assembly including (i) driver circuits, and (ii) a coolingsystem; and (b) connecting a replaceable assembly to the lamp headassembly, the replaceable assembly including (i) a plurality of lightproducing elements, (ii) a cooling structure for receiving a coolingfluid from the cooling system, the plurality of light producing elementsbeing supported by the cooling structure, and (iii) a reflector forreceiving light from the plurality of light producing elements.
 16. Themethod of claim 15 wherein step (b) includes connecting the replaceableassembly to the lamp head assembly using a plurality of fastenersdisposed between the replaceable assembly and the lamp head assembly.17. The method of claim 16 wherein the plurality of fasteners are quickdisconnect fasteners.
 18. The method of claim 16 wherein the pluralityof fasteners are captive fasteners included as part of at least one ofthe replaceable assembly and the lamp head assembly.
 19. The method ofclaim 16 wherein the plurality of fasteners are turn lock fasteners. 20.The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of (c) disconnectingthe replaceable assembly, as a complete unit, from the lamp headassembly through the operation of a plurality of fasteners disposedbetween the replaceable assembly and the lamp head assembly.